A Senate vote is scheduled next week on the Marriage Protection Amendment.

01:00 AM EDT on Friday, June 2, 2006

BY SCOTT MacKAY
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- A national conservative group is using newspaper and radio advertising to target Sen. Lincoln Chafee's opposition to a federal constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriages or civil unions by defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

"The only sure protection for marriage -- and our kids -- is the Marriage Protection Amendment," states the ad, which ran in Wednesday's editions of The Journal. "In just a few days, the U.S. Senate will have the opportunity to pass this amendment which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. It's simple. And it is natural as motherhood and fatherhood."

A spokeswoman for the group, Focus on the Family Action Inc., the political arm of James Dobson's Colorado-based Focus on the Family, said Chafee was targeted because he is a Republican.

"We chose Senator Chafee instead of Senator [Jack] Reed because he [Chafee] is a Republican and the Republican Party platform does support the Marriage Protection Act," said spokeswoman Amanda Banks.

The group has also run ads against some Democratic senators it considers moderate on the issue of gay marriage, Banks said. "We did not perceive Senator Reed to be moderate."

Since 2004, almost two dozen states have passed constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriages; additional proposed amendments are proposed for several states this year.

Banning same-sex marriage in 11 states by voter initiative in 2004 was a linchpin of President Bush's campaign to increase voter turnout among evangelical Christians in his reelection campaign against his Democratic challenger, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has already approved the legislation -- which would prohibit states from recognizing gay marriages -- and sent it to the full Senate, where it is given virtually no chance of approval because it would require support from two-thirds of the senators.

"Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman," reads the measure, which would require approval by two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the 50 states to take effect.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee has scheduled a vote for next week.

Chafee spokesman Steve Hourahan said the advertising will have no effect on Chafee's vote against the measure. Chafee believes that marriage is an issue that should be regulated by states, as has always been the case. And, Hourahan said, Chafee does not believe the "Constitution should be used to discriminate against or marginalize any category of citizens."

Cranston Mayor Stephen P. Laffey, Chafee's opponent in the primary, also opposes banning same-sex marriages by constitutional amendment. "I do not support the amendment to the Constitution outlawing gay marriage because I believe that this decision should be left up to the states to decide on a state-by-state basis," Laffey said in a statement. "And as long as we have the defense of marriage act, signed into law by President Bill Clinton, it is not necessary to amend the Constitution."

Reed's spokesman, Chip Unruh, said Reed, too, is against the amendment because he believes marriage should continue to be regulated by the states. "The states regulate marriage. . . . you don't get a federal marriage license."

smackay@projo.com / (401) 277-7321